


Tie Me to Dream

by Mizzy



Series: Spideytorch [3]
Category: Fantastic Four (Comicverse), Spider-Man (Comicverse)
Genre: Crush, First Kiss, Identity Porn, M/M, Pining
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-10-19
Updated: 2015-10-19
Packaged: 2018-04-27 04:47:10
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,847
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5034283
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mizzy/pseuds/Mizzy
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Johnny's subconscious thinks Peter Parker should know about Black Cat kissing Spider-man. Johnny's subconscious is weirdly insistent on that, and a lot of other things.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Tie Me to Dream

**Author's Note:**

> hahahahaahHAHAH NOOO SOMEONE STOP ME  
> #

"Face it, Spidey," Johnny says, "we played you and Parker like a —"

He whirls on his heel triumphantly to deliver his verbal coup de grâce, only to see Spider-man's mask rolled up, and he and Black Cat kissing passionately.

It's like being punched in the gut. That's something Johnny unfortunately has a lot of experience in now; a superhero's lot is not a life of cupcakes and puppies. He opens his mouth to blast them — Black Cat is Peter Parker's girl, and both she and Spider-man should know _so_ much better — but nothing comes out.

Johnny shakes his head like it can dislodge his words. This isn't how it happened. Johnny had dressed down Spider-man, and then told Black Cat to call him, before flaming out and away. So this isn't— This isn't real. This is a _dream._

Spider-man and Black Cat keep kissing. Johnny's seen Spider-man with his mask like that before, but he's always kind of looked away — if Spider-man wants him to know his secret identity, if Spider-man thinks Johnny's earned that, then he'll tell him. Until Johnny's earned that trust, he doesn't want to look too hard. He _wants_ to earn that moment, on his own merits, not by just noticing something by accident. But now he can't move. The dream has him locked in place, unable to look away.

Black Cat's white gloves slide down the black of Spider-man's current uniform. Johnny prefers him in the red and blue, but he can understand the impulse to dress in shadows and blend into the night. There's something enticing about their matching colors, too — Black Cat's white hands against the black of Spider-man's back, and their black-clad bodies pressed tightly together, and the matching soft flush of crimson across both of their cheeks. Spider-man's lips are pink as they move against Black Cat's, again and again, and Johnny can't say what he wants to, not this time.

And the dream turns weirder, because Johnny can feel his face heating up, and he can't look away. The kiss deepens and Johnny opens his mouth to scream, because they need to stop it, he's _right freaking there,_ why won't they stop kissing? There's something about the way they're pressed together, and Black Cat's tiny waist, that accentuates how wide Spider-man's shoulders are. Johnny's never noticed that so much before. They're wide, and capable, and steady, as he holds Black Cat close and kisses her like they have all the time in the world. Why won't they stop? Why won't they just _stop?_

Johnny tries to scream at them, but they ignore him — his mouth opens wide and nothing comes out — and the heat in his cheeks just keeps rising until it's a fire. No, he's on fire. And it's not a flame-on, it's not even going Nova, he's just been set on fire, and he can't move, and Spider-man and Black Cat are kissing and ignoring the fact that he's immolating just a few steps away from them, and he can't even scream—

#

Johnny couldn't scream in the dream. But in real life, he can. And does. And from the sound of it still echoing around his bedroom, the sound of it is what has finally awoken him.

Johnny levers himself upwards, clutching at his sheets. He's sweating hard and he looks over - the central air is switched to off. When he blinks, just for a second, he can see a negative image of Spider-man and Black Cat kissing, and he shakes his head to dispel it.

It's punishment, that's what it is, some sort of divine punishment for not being a good bro earlier. Peter Parker's a good friend despite his faults (the fault being his stupidly wide repertoire of skills, his stupidly big brain, and his stupidly adorable close relationship with his aunt), and Johnny should have done his bro a solid before now. He should have told Peter Parker immediately that his pal Spidey was macking on his girl. Now his subconscious is mocking him with it in punishment, and his head feels like he'd spent the night trying to drink Wyatt Wingfoot under the table.

He tries to lower his aching head back onto his pillow, but the moment starts replaying again almost immediately — Spider-man's wide shoulders and his big hands on Black Cat's supple curves, the pink of their mouths sliding against each other — and Johnny groans into his pillow. Fine. _Fine._ He'll go find Parker and break the news and then his subconscious might let him get some decent sleep.

#

Johnny lives up to his surname and storms home. Okay, so maybe bursting into Peter's room at 6am in the morning with the news hadn't been the greatest move, but Parker's Aunt May had been up at that time in the morning, _and_ she'd fed him cinnamon oatmeal with extra syrup for being so kind and courteous as to come over in person, so Johnny's feeling pretty good about his chances of a better upcoming night of sleep.

And hey, maybe he deserved the pillow Peter threw at Johnny's head, and the yelling to get the hell out of his bedroom, what kind of idiot thought 6am was a decent time for confessions like that, anyway?

Ugh, Johnny doesn't know why he tried. At least maybe his subconscious is pacified.

#

Assuaging his conscious works for about a week. Except it's a nice day, so Johnny takes a walk through Central Park - it's got good views for spotting both superbabes _and_ supervillains - and then Johnny's calm is ruptured, possibly permanently.

When he sees Peter Parker and Black Cat kissing, Johnny thinks for a moment that he's dreaming again, but he pinches himself, and makes a momentary soft weeping sound that wrenches from his lips, and both things reassure him that he's awake, and yes, Peter Parker is kissing Black Cat on a bench in the middle of the day in public.

Seriously? _Seriously?_ Did Peter not even listen to him for one _moment_ —?!

Parker and Black Cat break apart, Black Cat coquettishly twirling one of her long white locks in her long white fingers, and Parker's glaring over at Johnny like Johnny's cockblocked him or something.

Oh. Maybe Johnny's quiet sound was actually quite loud or something. He stares at Parker helplessly, lost for words. Maybe he is dreaming?

Walking away. Yeah. That's what he's going to do. If anyone watching said later that he _ran_ away from them, well, that's just someone getting pettily pedantic about Johnny's fast walk. He normally walks that fast. Ask anybody.

#

Nope, Johnny's going mad. This is _not_ happening. It's bad enough that the Wrecking Crew thought smashing up downtown Manhattan was a good idea. It's worse that his favorite salon's been turned into a five-thousand piece jigsaw.

Turning around to high-five Spider-man after a successful battle to find him kissing Black Cat?

"Oh my _god,_ " Johnny yells, loud enough to get weird glares from both the Avengers who'd been part of the battle _and_ the civilians left loitering around who hadn't run away in fear. "Seriously?"

Spider-man pulls away from Black Cat and rolls his mask down with a disgruntled noise. "I think that's my question," Spider-man says. "Seriously? What's your problem, Torch?"

"My _problem,_ " Johnny says, bristling at being called Torch when he has a serviceable and handsome name, thank you very much, "is that you're kissing your pal's girlfriend. That's what my problem is. It's totally uncool."

For some insane reason, Black Cat's pretty lips are quirked into a smirk. "I'll see you later, lover," she tells Spider-man, smacking Spider-man on the butt fondly and leaping into the nearest alley, fleeing with all her feline grace up the nearest fire escape. Johnny glares after her for a moment — some days she's a hero, sometimes she's a villain. Some days she's with Parker, and some days she's with Spider-man. Johnny would cry identical twin or clone, but there's no way two people in the universe would look like _that_ , the universe would crack in two. Hell, the universe barely copes with one Johnny Storm as it is.

" _Seriously,_ " Spider-man says, drawing up alongside Human Torch, and somehow giving him an unmistakably incredulous look through his impenetrable mask. "Parker doesn't care. So why do you?"

Johnny's mouth moves soundlessly. Oh, hell, is he dreaming again? He splutters. Well, if he can make sound, he's probably awake. Johnny sourly side-eyes the destroyed salon again. _Unfortunately,_ he's probably awake. He glares at Spider-man. "I don't," he says, but somehow it comes out as a question, and Spider-man can tell.

Spider-man claps him on the shoulder, a friendly blow that nearly unbalances Johnny. Johnny means to glare at Spider-man, but just somehow ends up staring helplessly at Spider-man's broad shoulders. That freaking dream has _incepted_ him.

"Good luck with that," Spider-man says, and thwips off before Johnny can say even more firmly that he doesn't care.

He _doesn't_ care. Johnny looks out for his friends, that's all.

#

His dreams don't bother him for a couple of nights, so there's no real reason why he ends up confronting Black Cat when he finds her sitting alone on the top corner of Midtown Bank.

Maybe it's because Johnny lets his subconscious take the driving seat every now and again; he's dropping his flames and landing on the roof moments before he realizes who the dark curving shape even is.

He strides towards her and sits down next to her, comparing their dangling legs for a moment, and how far they are from the ground. He'd be able to catch her, if she fell. Maybe Black Cat's name was even more apt than Johnny knows, and she'd land on her feet anyway.

"If you hit on me, I'll hit you," Black Cat says. A hello isn't her style, Johnny guesses. "That's the rule if you wanna share a rooftop with me."

"Same back at you," Johnny says, raising both eyebrows and then winking at her when she turns to glance at him. She raises a hand and he holds up both his palms in surrender. "Some of my unconscious tics may _appear_ as flirting. I can't help it. I'm just so sexy, it seeps out of my pores when I'm not trying."

Black Cat gives him a level glare. "Try," she offers.

Johnny flattens his mouth into a line, but nods.

"You here to warn me off Spider-man?" Black Cat asks, staring out at the Midtown buildings around them. "I don't do ultimatums."

"Not Spider-man particularly," Johnny says, slowly. "Peter Parker's my friend. Spider-man's my friend. You shouldn't be leading them both on."

Black Cat's curling smile is back. "Who says I'm leading them?"

"Please, like you'd follow anyone."

"Touché," Black Cat allows. "But maybe before you run in like a dashing knight to save a damsel, you'd better make sure your damsel wants saving, you know what I mean?"

"Uh," Johnny says, "is Spider-man or Peter Parker the damsel in this situation?"

Black Cat reaches out and pats him on the shoulder. "You'll figure it out, Storm. And in the meantime—" She steps up and stretches lithely, holding her hands up to the sun and beaming into the warmth of the sunlight. She looks down at him, her wicked smile still bright even in her sunlit silhouette shape. "Maybe consider something else."

"Like what?" Johnny asks.

"Like your friends are consenting adults," Black Cat says, and her wicked smile somehow curves _wickeder._ "And maybe they like to share." She winks at him, lasciviously, and before Johnny can protest that they had a no flirting rule, she leaps off the roof.

Johnny leans over and watches her go. Huh. Apparently she lands on her feet in _every_ situation.

#

It's not a guilty subconscious that brings the dream this time. Definitely not.

In this dream, Johnny's standing at the bottom of a king-sized bed. And on the bed, underneath a shifting, writhing white sheet, Black Cat lies naked, her mask still on, and her silver hair fanning out behind her head as two strong figures lean over her. For a moment, all Johnny can see is a matching pair of muscular backs, wide at the shoulders, tapering down to a slim waist, and he's distracted by the shifting muscles in those backs for a long moment. Then he looks up and realizes the two men are kissing Black Cat, reverently, as she slides between them, her arms raised above her head to cling onto the headboard.

The man on the left nuzzles into her neck, but isn't kissing her, not really, just pushing his face into the pale curve of her neck - he can't kiss her, he's wearing a mask. Spider-man's old red mask, but he's naked from the neck down. And on Black Cat's right is Peter Parker. He is kissing her, his lips trailing wet kisses over Black Cat's perfect shoulders and perfect cheek. The three of them are making delightful sounds, and Black Cat grins at Johnny from where she's lying on the pillows.

"Maybe they like to share," Black Cat whispers, low and sensual, and her eyes lock with Johnny for the briefest of seconds, and the world goes dizzy, turns upside down, and suddenly it's _Johnny_ in the middle of the sandwich. Johnny, lying on the pillows, naked, as Spider-man pushes his mask into the juncture of his neck and shoulder, and Peter Parker presses warm kisses up the side of his face, and Johnny's hips move restlessly under the firm, pulsing muscles of the two men.

"Maybe they like to share," Black Cat croons, from somewhere in the background.

"Parker doesn't care," Spider-man adds, while dream Parker pushes his forehead into the side of Johnny's face, and rubs himself up against Johnny's side, desperate, his harsh breaths like a delicious fire against Johnny's skin. Spider-man's voice rings in Johnny's ears as he asks, "So why do you?"

Johnny wakes up, panting and hard and alone.

He closes his eyes for a moment, trying to chase the images, but they break apart, fragments of noise and imaginary sensation. Johnny lies still and tries to breathe and tries not to think about what this dream means.

#

Johnny told himself he was just going to go out and blaze aimlessly, but yet again, his subconscious is being a wily interventionist — he ends up catching a glimpse of Peter Parker in a fly-by. He tries to keep flaming by, but it's useless — it's like he's a moth and _Parker's_ the flame, which is ridiculous, because Johnny's literally on fire right at that moment.

Yet Parker's somehow the one with the power to burn him right now.

Johnny changes direction, still thinking he could pass by, but on his second pass by, Parker looks a little morose. He's clinging onto his camera and a glass bottle and that cinches it — Parker shouldn't be drinking alone.

Johnny lands next to him and Parker doesn't even look up.

"Oh," Parker says. "It's you."

"Hello to you too," Johnny says. He's regretting his decision to land almost instantly. He probably should have known it would be a bad idea. Especially when his dreams for the last week have been relentlessly Parker and Spider-man, Parker and Spider-man. Black Cat hasn't even been in the dreams for the last few days, his brain figuring out that she's largely unnecessary for what Johnny's brain wants.

It's a fantasy, though. Johnny's highly aware of that. People have weird fantasies all the time.

"What are you doing all the way out here?" Parker asks. He sounds tired.

"I can go," Johnny offers, but Parker does look up then, and he _looks_ tired.

"No, please," Parker says, almost incoherently. He shrugs his shoulders. "I'm renting an apartment here now," Parker explains, gesturing with his bottle. It's root beer. Johnny doesn't even know why he's surprised.

"That's a change," Johnny says, cautiously. He doesn't add, _I thought it wasn't in your budget,_ because Parker's been wearing the same clothes since Johnny knew him. He doesn't think a windfall of money is the reason Parker's up here on the top of the building housing his new digs.

It's not in a great part of the city.

"I needed one," Parker says. "Couldn't stay with my Aunt forever."

"Your Aunt is pretty awesome," Johnny says.

Peter tilts forwards the bottle of soda. "Do you want some?"

Johnny's eyes catch on the lip of the bottle, of Parker's lips, of the distance between the two, and he has to fight suddenly with all his power not to flush. It was a dream, and Parker's taken. "I'm good. You save it to celebrate your freedom."

Parker nods, but doesn't keep drinking. He grips the building and stares off into the distance. "It's probably a bad time," Parker says. "People say you shouldn't make big decisions one after another."

Johnny frowns as he stares at the side of Parker's face. He wonders if the skin there is as smooth as in Johnny's dreams. "Big decisions?" Johnny asks, because he's not going to let his weird libido get in the way of being a good bro. He made the mistake of being a good bro once, and it led to the first dream, which is probably an indirect link to being infected by this weirder _sharing_ dream, because hours of staring at Spider-man kissing Black Cat is bound to lead to confusion and confusingly sexy dreams.

"You'll be glad to hear that Black Cat broke up with me," Parker says, his voice hitching.

"I—" Johnny tries to say he's sorry, but he's actually kind of not. "Wow. Hard times."

"I knew it was temporary anyway," Parker says. "Wasn't expecting it to hurt, I guess."

"I'm not," Johnny says, and Parker looks at him with confusion, which is better than exhausted sadness. "Glad. I'm not glad." He pulls a face. "And I really hope it wasn't my fault."

Parker's confusion turns to something more akin to accusation. "Why? What did you do?"

"Um," Johnny says, eloquently.

Parker's eyes narrow. "Johnny, what the hell did you do?"

"Nothing!" Johnny protests. From Parker's glare, that's not going to wash. "I might have told her not to lead both you and Spider-man on at the same time?"

Parker's potential ire melts away and he sags. "Oh. That. No. No, it was coming anyway. Probably better sooner than later."

Johnny squints. "Why aren't you mad at me?"

Parker turns to him and looks… not sad anymore. Not angry. Just some sort of weird middle ground. Resignedly relieved, maybe. "Breakups don't happen when things are going well," Parker says. "No matter if a third party comes in and crashes the fun." He nods at Johnny. "Thanks for trying to take the blame, though. I appreciate it." He rises to his feet, pats Johnny on the back, and just walks inside the building, not looking back.

Johnny watches him go and stares at the rooftop door long after it closes behind Parker. An incomprehensible feeling has him by the throat. Sadness? Regret? Longing? Whatever it is, it's tangible and Johnny doesn't know what's going to shake the feeling away.

#

A fight does it just fine. The longing burns up in a good two hour stint of chasing doombots up and down Hell's Kitchen. Daredevil's always a good fighting companion for when Johnny needs to let rage out, because he understands why the doombots need to be pulverized to pieces, not an inch of Doom's hollow face surviving the attack.

Johnny gets so into it that he doesn't even notice when others join the fight; he barely even acknowledges his own sister, dodging one of her energy displacing blasts at the last minute. It's only at the end when he notices Black Cat and Spider-man darting around the fray in their black svelte suits, and his stomach sort of drops, and then it _lurches_ when Black Cat leaps off without even really acknowledging Spider-man at all. What?

He ignores everyone to focus in on Spider-man, grabbing him by the shoulder and yanking him into a dark alley.

"Wow, you always take me to the best places," Spider-man says.

"What happened?" Johnny demands immediately, pointing in the direction Black Cat left in. Spider-man stares at him silently. Oh, maybe Johnny's signals aren't that clear. "Why isn't your face attached to Black Cat's face?"

Spider-man's mask wrinkles, like he's rearranging his face to stare judgmentally at Johnny. "She's off to San Francisco tonight. We broke up. Why are you so weirdly invested in this?"

"I'm not," Johnny denies, even though a flash of the sharing dream hits him, and nope, nope, he can't think of it. Not while Spider-man's so close with his broad shoulders and his big hands and _nope._ "I'm just— Well, I said something to her, and—"

"It's okay, I already know what you said to Black Cat," Spider-man says.

"You do? She told you?"

"Parker did," Spider-man says, like it's normal. Like maybe he and Parker talk all the time. Like they… share all the time.

Johnny's willing away a blush with all his might. With a small, fearful voice, he asks one of the questions he's not sure he wants answering. "Are you mad at me?"

Spider-man tilts his head, and his masks lilts from side-to-side, like he's noticing the fact that all Johnny's might _isn't_ enough to wipe out the blush he can't help. "You seem very concerned," Spider-man says.

"Well," Johnny says, "no—"

"I asked you before," Spider-man says, stepping even closer. Johnny tries not to squeak. Well, he tries to pretend he didn't squeak. Same difference. Was the alley wall always so close to his back? "Why do you care?"

"Um," Johnny says, coherently, unable to stop looking at the point in Spider-man's mask where his mouth is. He's seen Spider-man's mouth so many times in his dreams he thinks he could draw it blindfolded by now.

"No answer, huh?" Spider-man says, and steps forward even _more,_ and Johnny's back collides with the alley wall. "How curious."

"Well," Johnny says, but a flash of his sharing dream comes back, and coherency is a lost skill at this moment in time.

"Maybe Black Cat leaving _is_ your fault," Spider-man says. "Or maybe you're actually a strong contributing factor."

Johnny's eyes sting a little at that, because it's not his fault, he's just been trying to do the right thing! He opens his mouth to protest that, but Spider-man rolls his mask up, and Johnny stares, lost and confused, right until the moment Spider-man kisses him.

Spider-man. _Kisses_. Him.

Just one touch of Spider-man's lips to his and Johnny is lost. There's a sound in Johnny's ear, a keening noise, and it might be coming from his own throat. Johnny doesn't know. He's used to his body turning to fire, but he's not used to it turning to _flame._ Spider-man's wide shoulders under his own hands are… it's bliss. It's total bliss.

This might be why he cared so much, seeing Black Cat and Spider-man together.

Spider-man smiles into Johnny's mouth and it's amazing, it's just amazing. "You're so _responsive,_ " Spider-man murmurs, and his voice goes, oh, to so many interesting places, and Spider-man's breath is so warm on his face. Johnny clings on, desperate for it, pushing into Spider-man's body, and Spider-man's large hands slide down Johnny's back, over his ass, under his thighs, and he lifts him up— Lifts him up like he weighs nothing at all. Johnny hadn't even known superstrength would be a kink of his until it's happening, until his legs are automatically gripping around Spider-man's strong hips of their own volition, and Johnny's voice is murmuring back at Spider-man, low suggestions, thick and barely coherent, words like _now_ and _c'mon_ and _more_ and _move._

Sue's voice is probably the only thing that could even cut through the haze Johnny's lost in. And it does. It cuts like a knife. "Johnny, are you—?" she starts, and then "Oh! Sorry!" more loudly when she enters the alley fully; she turns around and Johnny can see a blush creeping up his sister's neck. Oh god. She's never going to let him live this down. "Um, I thought you might like to come with me to get some dinner. But if you're busy—"

Spider-man starts chuckling, hiding his half-exposed face against Johnny's neck, and he reluctantly lowers Johnny back down to the ground.

"Um," Johnny says, "I guess it's nothing that can't wait?" He looks over at Spider-man expectantly, and Spider-man grins at him and lowers his mask before tipping an off-balance salute to him and raising his arm to spider-whip out of there.

"See ya later, flamebrain," Spider-man calls, and zooms off into the sky.

Johnny touches his mouth and stares upwards, his lips tingling, as he watches Spider-man's black-clad form zip away. What? Seriously, _what_ even is his life?

Sue nudges him with his shoulder, having obviously decided it's safe again to turn around. "You always did have a thing for the Man in Black in The Princess Bride, I suppose," Sue says.

Johnny pretends for his dignity that he doesn't make a whimpering sound in response.

#

Dinner isn't enough to clear Johnny's head; then again, Sue's leers and occasional innuendo-laced comments didn't help. A good flight isn't even clearing his brain. Spider-man's nowhere in sight, and Johnny doesn't know whether he's sad or unhappy or relieved about that.

A thinking spot. That's what he needs. He heads for the top of Peter Parker's building almost automatically, not really expecting it to be occupied, but it is.

Johnny's mouth moves uselessly when he lands almost directly in front of where Parker's sitting with his back to the wall and knees drawn to his chest.

"Really?" Parker says, pulling a face when he sees who it is. "C'mon, dude. I was here first. And it's my building."

"And a crappy building it is too," Johnny says, sliding down to sit next to him. He needs someone who knows Spider-man, someone who knows him, someone who can help him make sense of his crazy thoughts.

Parker scowls. Johnny can feel it even though he's not actively looking at him. "Excuse you, we can't all be rich Baxter building people," Peter says, and then he sighs. "Okay, out with it."

"What?"

"You're either physically or emotionally constipated," Parker says. "And I'm really hoping it's the latter."

"Thanks for finally killing my boner," Johnny says.

"You came by to see me _with a—_ " Parker starts.

"Nooooo," Johnny says, realizing.

"Well, you needn't sound _quite_ like the idea is completely impossible," Parker says. "My brain's already full of impossible, crazy things as it is."

"I think I know a little of impossible and crazy," Johnny says, because today, yep, that definitely counts. He gestures at his crotch. "It's a superhero thing, happens sometimes. Adrenaline. Totally normal. PlusyourbuddySpider-man."

Parker turns to him, judgment clear in the curve of his eyebrows.

A horrible feeling hits the pit of Johnny's stomach. _Maybe they like to share._ "You weren't—" Johnny says, with horribly dawning comprehension. "You're not involved with Spider-man, are you?" He might be asking in a whisper, a whisper that burns his throat and mouth, because no, this can't be happening again. He can't have to break the news to Parker that Spider-man's been kissing someone wrong again. He _can't._

Parker, thankfully, thinks Johnny's question is the funniest thing ever. "Is this why you were so eager to tell me about Black Cat and Spidey? You wanted Spider-man for yourself, huh?"

Johnny's "No!" isn’t that convincing, so he makes sure Parker's looking him in the eyes when he says, as seriously as he can, "I just didn't think it was fair that she was with you, but kissing him. This Spider-man thing, on the other hand, it's kind of like someone's hit me with something large and heavy. Although—" He ducks his head, because Sue had pointed out something he can't ignore. "Sue says I talk about Spider-man endlessly. So maybe she just knew before I even did."

It makes sense in retrospect. Most things do, in Johnny's experience.

"Knew what?" Peter asks. He's looking at Johnny seriously now, like the answer really matters to him. His earnestness is nice. Maybe it's just what Johnny needs to get through this thing.

"About my crush on Spider-man," Johnny clarifies, and it's only now, saying it out loud, that Johnny even understands just how _long_ he's been crushing on Spider-man. A long time. Long before Spider-man crawled into his garage while Johnny was working on his cars and started talking to him like it was something they'd done their whole lives. "I'm sorry."

"For your crush on Spider-man?" Parker asks, the edges of his mouth turning down.

"No," Johnny says, and his adamant reply makes Parker smile oddly for a moment. "For if what I said to Black Cat did make her leave sooner than you thought she would. You being hurt is the last thing I'd want."

"Oh," Parker says, and blinks a couple of times. He ducks his head, almost like he's suddenly shy. "Oh, it wasn't anything serious. Don't worry about it. There are much better things out there."

"Like Spider-man," Johnny says, a little dreamily. He figures he allowed; admitting the crush out loud is a massive step for him, a little sappiness before he can get it under control isn't bad, in the scheme of things.

"Yeah," Parker agrees, and the quick firmness of the answer makes Johnny suddenly feel oddly cold.

No, that's not— That's not even possible, is it? A weird feeling clenches at Johnny's chest. He looks at Peter, unable to hold back the faint suspicion crawling along his skin. "Are you and—" Johnny gestures. Peter frowns, unable to decipher Johnny's hand movements. "Are you and Spider-man _involved_?" Johnny hisses.

Parker blinks, a lot more than just a couple of times.

Johnny stares. "Have you ever kissed Spider-man?"

"Never," Peter says, instantly. Maybe too fast.

 _Maybe they like to share,_ Johnny's memory says. "Have you ever had _sex_ with him?"

"No," Parker says, and then grins awkwardly, "unless handjobs count?"

Johnny's eyes widen further.

"That was a joke," Parker hurries on to say. "Wait, why are you freaking out so much?"

"Spider-man and I—" Johnny started, and he gets to his feet in a panic — Peter follows him, his eyes concernedly tracking his face.

"Yeah?" Parker says, prompting him to continue.

"Oh my god," Johnny breathes, jabbing a finger at Parker's chest. It's much more solid than Johnny might have expected. He'd say something about it, but he's entirely distracted. "Oh my god, you and Spider-man _do_ share! Everything!"

Parker almost laughs when he says, "What?"

"You do!" Johnny says. "That's what's going on, you're in a freaky triangle thing with Spider-man."

Parker frowns, standing hands akimbo, looking Johnny up and down like he's gone entirely insane. It's not out of the realms of possibility. "What are you even talking about?"

"You! Picking up poor blond super-powered people and distracting them with your—" Johnny gestures at Parker, incensed. "Your twin super _everything._ "

Parker shakes his head for a moment, like he's completely blindsided, and then he squints, like things are starting to make more sense. "Wait— do you _like_ the idea of the sharing?"

"No?" Johnny says, and how did Parker even— oh. Johnny's moved to stand too near him, and he's breathing in Parker's personal space, and he's looking at him, looking and looking like he can drink Parker up just by _looking._ Yeah. Maybe Johnny's interest is more opaque than he'd wanted it to be.

"You do," Peter says, his eyes darkening a little.

"No."

"That's your lying face," Parker says.

"It's not. It's just my face," Johnny defends.

"Nope," Parker says, and his hands ghost over Johnny's hips, and yeah, that's definitely a keening sound from Johnny's mouth. "You like the idea of sharing. Come here."

"What?" Johnny breathes.

"Come closer," Parker says, his voice quieter, a small smile playing on his face. "Let me tell you a thing."

And Johnny, damn him, he nearly does. He really nearly does. He can understand all of a sudden too clearly how Black Cat could have been with both Peter Parker and Spider-man. They're enticing. Too much to resist. They're planets and Johnny's an object in space too drawn into their orbits.

"No," Johnny says, wrenching backwards, burning up into flame, because if he doesn't go now he'll do something he'll regret. "I can't. I'm sorry!"

And he flames away, leaving Parker alone on the rooftop, staring up into the sky.

#

"Argh," Johnny says eloquently, as he finally gets into his apartment and flops down on his bed.

He gets about two seconds to wallow in the moment before Spider-man crawls through his window.

Johnny's too emotionally overwhelmed to be coherent. "Nooooo," he whines, and points vaguely at the window. "Go back out the way you came. Backspace. Backspace, backspace, backspace."

"Nope," Spider-man says. "Just one thing. Or don't you want to know what Peter was going to say on the rooftop?"

Johnny flips over onto his back and glares up at the ceiling angrily before glaring over at Spider-man. This was not how he pictured Spider-man finally getting into his bedroom. "You were listening to us?"

"Do you want to know or don't you?" Spider-man asks. He sounds certain he knows the answer, at least.

Johnny's too tired to argue anymore. He's just about resigned to going quietly mad. At least he's in his bed. A comfortable madness sounds quite nice, actually. "Yeah, okay," he sighs.

Spider-man nods, and then crosses the room and is crawling up Johnny's bed before he can stop him. He crawls over Johnny's body like the best kind of wet-dream and he tugs up the corner of his mask and leans in close to Johnny's ear. His breath is hot on Johnny's face and Johnny thinks if he died right now, he'd die perfectly, weirdly happy.

"Johnny," Spider-man says slowly. His words are measured. He pauses between each word, to emphasize them. "I. Don't. _Share._ " Spider-man leans back on his heels, still straddling Johnny's hips, and he's smirking as he pulls off his mask and throws it into the corner of Johnny's room.

"Oh," Johnny says. And then, "Oh," again as he reaches for Peter Parker's face, and "oh" again for quite a few more moments after that.

#

Even though the spider-bite means that Peter can go about eight times a night, it was probably overly ambitious for Johnny to try and keep up. They both oversleep, which is probably why Sue bursts into his room to come fetch him for a Fantastic Four thing, and ends up shrieking at him from the foot of the bed.

"Johnny!" Sue shrieks. "I can't _believe_ you. You and _Peter Parker_? Both of you? Cheating on Spider-man? How could you?"

"It's okay," Johnny says sleepily. He grins at his sister and then at Peter, nestled sleepily in his arms. "He likes to share."


End file.
